The Scottish Government revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request that the cash has been used on “substantial development work” since 2013 which it now says will “inform an evidence-based review”.
Conservative north-east MSP Liam Kerr said it is “scandalous that the SNP could potentially waste millions of pounds of taxpayers money by winding back on clear promises they have made to the north-east”.
The £3 billion project – if it goes ahead in full – would dual the entire route of the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness.
However, following a power-sharing agreement between the SNP and Greens last year, it was agreed the full dualling of the route between Aberdeen and Inverness will be subject to an “evidence-based review”.
Consultants have been appointed to take forward the controversial review, which is due to report back at the end of the year and will include a climate compatibility assessment.
‘A96 needs to be fully dualled’
Mr Kerr accused the SNP of having moved the goalposts to “appease their Green coalition partners”.
He added: “The A96 needs to be fully dualled to give drivers a safer and improved journey between Aberdeen and Inverness, drive the north-east economy forward and ensure our emergency services can get where they need without delays.
“But what makes this ridiculous situation even worse is that £78m has already been spent on a project which the coalition of chaos seems to be finding ever more creative excuses to back out of.
“In their response, the Scottish Government even references the fact it could be seen as money being wasted which tells us everything we need to know about their attitude towards taxpayers cash.”
SNP ministers originally committed to dualling the A96 in 2011 but more than a decade on and construction work is yet to begin on the 86-mile route.
The plan was to connect all of Scotland’s cities by the dual carriageway network.
Green north-east MSP Maggie Chapman revealed last year she is confident it will “not be viable” to fully dual the road for environmental reasons.
This was followed by contractors behind part of the A96 dualling project shutting their Forres office last Hogmanay, blaming the impact of an SNP-Green deal.
Consultants are currently gathering “initial baseline information” from previous studies to assist the identification of “transport problems and opportunities”.
The findings are due to be published by the end of this year and will determine whether the route will be dualled.
Work will ‘not go to waste’
The Scottish Government said it is “committed to the north and east of Scotland, including improving the A96 corridor” and described the review as “sensible good governance for major investment of this kind”.
The 31km stretch between Inverness and Nairn will be dualled but detailed work is being done on the preferred options for the 46km Hardmuir to Fochabers and 36km East of Huntly to Aberdeen sections.
The government added it has been “undertaking substantial development work on this important programme since 2013 which has been vital to inform our understanding of the significant undertaking of improving this key corridor”.
It continued: “The substantial development work undertaken will not go to waste rather it will be vital to inform the evidence-based review.”
Meanwhile, responding to new figures from Transport Scotland showing that rail travel in 2020-21 was down 85% compared 2019-20, bus travel was down 65% compared to 2019-20, but car journeys were down just 22% between 2019 and 2020, Scottish Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Jill Reilly said: “Huge drops in the number of journeys taken was to be expected with a global pandemic hitting Scotland. Unfortunately, these drops were far sharper for buses and trains than they were for private cars.
“As we build back from the pandemic, there needs to be a serious effort to get people back onto modes of transport which are better for the environment. The pandemic must not be a lingering setback to our climate change goals.
“ScotRail is now in ministerial hands so the first thing they should do is reverse the SNP/Green rail hike, scrap peak rail fares for young people and cut fares for everyone with new railcard entitlements.
“It is time for a radical shake-up of Scotland’s public transport system to make it climate-friendly and respond to the cost-of-living crisis.”
Of course the A96 needs to be dualed. It should have been done years ago.